Kolkata, May 2 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress General Secretary and Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee will be addressing a virtual meeting with counting agents of the party later on Saturday, just 48 hours before the crucial counting of votes on Monday for the recently-concluded two-phase Assembly elections in the state.

Insiders from Trinamool Congress said that at the virtual meeting both the Chief Minister and the party’s General Secretary are expected to give last moment instruction to the counting agents on the steps to be followed from the beginning of the counting at 8 A.M. on May 4 till the end of the process, which is handing over the winning certificates to the elected candidates.

Before the virtual meeting on Saturday, Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee had a long, close-door and one-to-one meeting on Friday night. However, no information surfaced on what exactly was discussed at the crucial meeting.

”Initially, it was decided that only our party’s General Secretary will be addressing the virtual meeting on Saturday. However, later we came to know that the Chief Minister will also be present at the virtual meeting and address the counting agents,” said a senior leader of Trinamool Congress, who did not wish to be named.

Already, in a social media video message posted on April 30, the Chief Minister had spelt out a number of suggestions for the party’s counting agents. She asked the counting agents to keep their morale high and remain at the counting table on May 4 till the end.

“Remain at the counting tables unless I address the press conference after the counting is over. If you have to leave the counting table temporarily to go to the washroom or to have your food, ensure your replacement before that. The replacement will be only by those individuals who are trustworthy and cannot be purchased,” the chief minister said in her video message.

She also issued an appeal to the Trinamool Congress not to be disheartened by the different exit poll predictions, the majority of which had predicted the end of the 15-year Trinamool Congress regime and the beginning of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule in West Bengal.

–IANS

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